REPORT | SEQ Community Attitudes to Consultation & Engagement

Last month, Harbinger Consultants instigated a small independent research project to capture community attitudes to consultation and engagement in South East Queensland. Residents of the SEQ region were invited to complete a brief online survey.

The report – Survey Report: South East Queensland Community Attitudes to Consultation and Engagement – is now published online via Scribd and embedded on this blog post.

We were motivated to undertake this project after receiving mixed messages from community members in our own consultation work as well as observing mounting opposition to development, infrastructure and planning initiatives. At a recent presentation by the Major Cities Unit, comment was made about the ‘type of planning profession’ that had developed in Australia and so we believe there is some need to consideration professional values and delivery together with growth pressures, urban economics and community dynamics. This makes the task of consultation complex indeed.

Survey responses reveal a range of frustrations and tensions in consultations about planning and development in particular. Respondent preferences for and expectations of consultation and engagement methods have not been met. The results demonstrate a desire for more open and transparent processes among respondents and a general sense that consultation is ‘going through the motions’. Issues have been raised about communication, quality of engagement, professionalism of project teams, community capacity, attitudes and the need for follow up. Respondents also identify expectations and opportunities for better consultation.

While we recognise the limitations of this study, its findings can help professionals better design their consultations and respond to changing community expectations about these processes. We are now in the process of identifying what these results mean for us and our work. Our consultancy work is strongly values driven with a commitment to learning and continuous improvement. We will be working with the survey results to develop more discussion papers and resources.

Our thanks to all those people in South East Queensland who participated in the survey. We will be distributing it to colleagues, community groups and decision makers.

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Recent & Current involvements

Cultural & Public Art Strategies for urban, suburban & regional communities
Stakeholder engagement and partnership brokering for Indigenous led enterprise and economic development research project
Facilitation & workshops
Commissioned writing, research, editing and guest lecturing
Voluntary non profit board involvements with Art from the Margins and Dementia Friendly Communities Advisory Committee
Membership of the International Association of Public Participation and Institute of Place Management

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Harbinger Consultants respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of Australia and pay our respects to the leaders of the traditional custodians of this land. We are grateful to the Elders - Indigenous and non-indigenous - who so generously share their knowledges and wisdom with us.